Roethlisberger sacked at Camp
Troubled Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger suffered another set back on Tuesday. Roethlisberger is slated to host his annual youth football camp on June 21st-23rd at Mars Area High School.But at the last minute he was replaced by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. The camp formerly known as the Ben Roethlisberger Football Camp will now be called the Coach Tomlin Football Camp. The camp is organized by ProCamps Worldwide and is geared towards children ages 7-14. Last year, approximately 500 children attended the camp.
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Speaking on the change in camp hosts, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, “Helping children understand and enjoy the game of football has been a passion of mine for years. I look forward to this opportunity to use football to teach important life lessons to all the kids in attendance.”
Roethlisberger is currently banned from team activities and off season practices and was forced by the league to undergo a battery of psychological tests.
Youth, Experience and Inability
The Pittsburgh Steelers face an interesting dilemma. Dennis Dixon, Charlie Batch and Byron Leftwich, who starts and how to prepare the team. How will the team prepare whomever they select to fill the void created by Roethlisberger’s suspension and how do they treat Roethlisberger? They are all very good questions posed by Ed Bouchette of the Post-Gazette.
Steelers to Fans-Pay UP!
The Pittsburgh Steelers have raised their ticket prices this offseason. Season ticket holders have to pay full ticket price for those crappy pre-season games, and now everyone at Heinz Field will be paying more for tickets in 2010.
In an article in USA Today this morning, the Steelers have raised their tickets 7%, the most in the NFL. So the Steeler’s faithful will now be paying 7% more for the first three home games to watch the likes of Byron “The Human Windmill” Leftwich play quarterback while Ben Roethlisberger serves his suspension.
Perhaps the ticket price increase was already planned heading into 2010, but with all the offseason exploits of Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Are the Steelers a playoff team?
Are the Pittsburgh Steelers a playoff team with Ben Roethlisberger scheduled to miss the first 6 games in 2010? WR Hines Ward expressed his desire to have the Steelers return to a running based attack in 2010 in this morning’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
According to the article, “Last year, we had a prolific offense,” Ward noted. “We had two 1,000-yard receivers, a 1,000-yard back and a 4,000-yard quarterback, and we were out of the playoffs. Go figure that.”
Others have been doing just that. It began when Steelers president Art Rooney said in January, “We need to figure out how to get better running the football.”
It continued in March when coach Mike Tomlin affirmed his intent to improve his ground game.
“We’ve got to run the ball more effectively in critical situations because that’s how we desire to play football, and it increases our chances of winning,” Tomlin said. “It makes us a more dominant football team.”
Limas Sweed was headed to Tampa?
ESPN’s NFL guru Adam Schefter Tweeted earlier this morning that Pittsburgh Steelers WR Limas Sweed was “this close” to being traded to Tampa. For whatever reason, Tampa didn’t trade for the disappointing receiver and Sweed has suffered what might be a season ending Achilles tendon injury. If Sweed has definitely ruptured the tendon, he will miss the entire 2010 season.
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Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh have become trading partners over the past few seasons. Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin were both caoching on the Tampa Bay squad under defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. QB Byron Leftwich has been passed back and forth from the Steelers to the Bucs and now back to the Steelers over the past two seasons.
Tampa Bay, prior to the draft was in serious need of receiving help but I couldn’t image Tampa wanting another tall underachieving receiver. They already have Maurice Stovall on their roster, who is physically almost a carbon copy of Sweed.
The Steelers have announced that Sweed was dealing with undisclosed personal issues during the 2009 season. If he has suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, the Steelers might reach an injury settlement with Sweed and release him outright.
